Rally Bohemia started a gladiator show at Autodrom Sosnová
Crews of 46th Rally Bohemia have completed their first two special stages, which took place at the SCALA Gladiator Sosnová stage on the Autodrome in Sosnová near Česká Lípa. We also bring you feedback from pilots from the evening finish of the first section of the competition.
The crews presented themselves in pairs in direct fights when they always exchanged their starting positions between individual passes. The spectators at the crowded stands of the Autodrom Sosnová thus had the opportunity to directly compare the results of each race on the finish line and applauded the crews for their performance with spontaneous applause as well as cheering on the start. Several fights were so tight that it was hard for the naked eye to see which pair of crews had won. The first thirty cars from the main field, the Czech Rally Championship, avoided rain, although storm clouds were all around the autodrome. Jan Kopecký from the ŠKODA Motorsport factory team took the lead after these two short stages, less than a second ahead of Jan Černý. Kalle Rovanperä, the second Škoda factory driver, is third with a loss of 1.8 seconds with the same time as another young talent, Austrian Simon Wagner. Both of them have so far fulfilled the role of dark horses of the competition. Škoda Fabia R5 cars placed at the first four positions. The fifth place went to Jan Dohnal, the sixth to Vojtěch Štajf, the seventh to Václav Pech and the eighth to Filip Mareš.
Pilot’s comments after stage 2 – end of section 1 of the first leg (Hoškovice):
Jan Kopecký: “Nice tests, it’s just a shame about the audience that the program was late. See what the weather will be like tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Other special stages are beautiful, especially the new ones are hard and each is different, so hopefully we will fight with it and try to defend our last year’s victory. We will also collect additional data here to develop a new evo version of our car.”
Václav Pech: “All right, it was a sort of overture, we decided for semi-dry, semi-wet tires, so it was not ideal for the ride, but I am satisfied in terms of our options.
Jan Dohnal: “The first pass was quite good, in the second one, it was a little worse. The track as Sosnová is strictly about discipline and every skid means time loss. But in overall, we are satisfied with the placement. ”
Vojtěch Štajf: “The tire selection was very difficult, we were working with tires as early as on the shakedown. In the end, it was relatively good, the time was decent. If the weather forecast is as it will be, it will be difficult for me, because in wet conditions, I went with Polo only a few stages at Rally Šumava. It will be thrilling if we have managed to write the pacenotes for the new tracks, whether it is too cautious or optimistic. We will see at the first passes. At least it will show up on the new tracks who how manage to write it.”
Martin Vlček: “The car is OK, we just didn’t hit the tire choice properly, because we put on wet ones and the water fell down just after the stage so we couldn’t go fast. But otherwise, it was good, the race takes place tomorrow.”
Štěpán Vojtěch: “We are glad that we were able to replace a sensor, the gears did not disconnect at the shakedown during shift, so we had to repair it and we managed it just before leaving for Sosnová. Now it seemed to work, so we did a little more skidding than needed. We had all-weather tires, so it goes well so far. Certainly we did not look at the time at Sosnová, and we hope that we will not look at it even during further course of the race. Of course, we will try to drive swiftly, but our goal is to enjoy it. In the morning, the main goal will be to keep it on the road because there are beautiful but challenging stages. The weather will be difficult, so it will be important to choose the tires well. It will be a good challenge I think everyone is looking forward to that, because the new stages are really nice.”
Simon Wagner: “We really enjoyed the tests, there was a lot of fun and a lot of audience, so we are very satisfied.”
Jan Sýkora: “It was nice, Sosnová miraculously avoided the rain, at least in the foreground of the starting list. I like the Autodrome in Sosnová, it is a good show, I just did a little more skidding there and destroyed the new tires I put on at the very last moment because I thought it was going to rain (but a smile). ”
More information on all parts of Rally Bohemia 2019 including individual time schedules can be found at www.rallybohemia.cz. There is also the Internet Radio Rally Bohemia, which will broadcast interviews with the pilots from special stages during the competition and other information. You can also watch more information and get interesting facts about the competition on social networks. The traditional general partner of the competition is car company ŠKODA AUTO.
Rally Bohemia can be found on these accounts on social networks:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rallybohemia
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/RallyBohemia
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rallybohemia
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2019-07-12 [187]
